Anita da Silva, born in 1980, based in Almancil (Algarve). She is the founder of Portuguese With Anita: one of the biggest communities of Portuguese learners with a total of 90K followers on social media (@portuguesewithanita). And it’s just the beginning because this ambitious teacher has one big mission in mind: spreading the love for the Portuguese language all over the world.
ABOUT ANITA
Let’s go back to where it all started. After 13 years of experience in the teaching field, in 2022 Anita’s career was impacted by an unexpected plot twist. “At that time, I used to work as a Pedagogical Director in an international school, being completely in love with my job”, explains the teacher. “However, I consider myself a creative and open mind, so I felt the need to have my own school to help a higher number of students”. That’s why she decided to make a career jump and create her own learning community on Instagram and Facebook, which was initially called Anita’s Portuguese Lessons and allowed her to reach more and more people. A few months later, the ultimate confirmation: she launched her own online Portuguese course and it was a huge success. The rest is history.
THE POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Thanks to the takeoff on social media, Portuguese With Anita managed to reach thousands of people coming from different countries. Many of them are from the USA, the UK, and Italy, although the majority have already moved to Portugal, especially to Lisbon and Porto.
According to UNESCO, by 2050 around 335 million people worldwide will speak Portuguese. But why does this language seem to be so interesting? “Students reach out to me because they would love to reconnect with their family, or maybe they have a Portuguese partner. Others would like to move to Portugal and find a job there”, points out Anita. The list is long, but in spite of the reason, her community had the power to connect people from all over the world who share the same purpose and bring to life a supporting community.
E-LEARNING: THE ULTIMATE TREND
Nowadays, learning through electronic resources, also known as e-learning, has become increasingly popular. The reason is simple: you can learn anything you need, whenever you want, from the comfort of your sofa.
This is why Anita shares daily short clips on social media, such as reels or tiktoks, to help people learn Portuguese easily and at their own pace. Also, for those students who want to attend in-depth classes, Anita has created her own Portuguese MasterCourse, which includes 50 hours of video lessons to experience language and culture from a 360-degree point of view.
As Anita explains, “I like to create educational content that is also interactive and easily accessible. For this reason, I provide a variety of different ways to learn Portuguese, for example engaging with regular posts just 5 minutes a day, attending courses and webinars, or simply joining our wonderful community”.
